she is deadly. sandy is a massive and growing cat 1 hurricane that has already killed at least 21 people and is barrelling towards our east coast and some battleground states where she could not be more unwelcome. i said florida, virginia, new hampshire, and ohio and that's why i said them. the storm could affect campaigns in those states. more importantly, could even threaten lives, damage everything that these kinds of storms actually can do. at least one prediction says this storm could cause a billion dollars in damage and some are calling it the new perfect storm. even worse than the one back in '91. it's dark clouds as massive as the distance from memphis all the way to los angeles. our meteorologist chad myers is here. chad, there are tens of thousands of people as we speak who are planning to head out to these massive outdoor campaign rallies. all of these people who are organizing them, how bad is this storm looking for all of this?

>> i don't think anybody teaches you in college what this could do. this is a storm that is going to have a very deep low pressure center. i know it's going to be a category 1. i've heard all of these tweets about how can a category 1 be bad? there's a big high pressure on it behind. a big high here, a big low here, the wind between those two systems will be tremendous. winds could gust 80 miles per hour from michigan through ohio into pennsylvania not even really attached to the center or the core or the eye of the hurricane. here's the latest. 76.9 if you're keeping track at home. still an 80 mile per hour storm. last night at 11:00 this was a tremendous storm moving through the bahamas. it got torn up overnight. it doesn't look nearly as bad as it did last night. that is great news. dry air has pulled in. it was sheered apart. it just doesn't right now have the power that it once did. it is still forecast to be in warm water. this is the gulf stream.

all the warm water that runs up the east coast current and stilg staying there. i know the middle of the line says dell march but it could be all the way from long island into north carolina. we're still -- >> these are swing states. these are swing states in there. >> yes. >> these are massive in this last week-long push to the elections. chad, when we have big concerts planned. >> zble they those down. they cancel them. we have the equivalent of dozens of massive concerts in these big campaign rallies. if they're calling you, what are you telling them to do? >> you cannot have anything set up with a wind of 50, 60, 70 miles per hour. you want people inside. these campaigns have to find some place to hunker down and get inside to not have the things outside with tents and billboards and ban shells like we saw in indiana, what happens when the wind blows. that would be dangerous to be outside when this thing with low pressure here, high pressure

here, the wind howling through the east coast for the next four days. >> all those campaign workers trying to plan for this critical, critical stretch. chad myers, thank you. i want to move onto the political side of the storm in fact. we talked about the campaigns needing to reach out to the voters heading into the final stretch. the strategy, the cities to hit. all of it was already choreographed especially these last few days. now those sides are going to have to start doing some rethinking with this massive storm approaching. the airports could be closed or really, really dangerous to be flying through the air spaces. the open rallies. then there's the obvious. if the unthinkable happens and this horrible national emergency could occur, that would be pretty stuff to start talking about campaigning and what the campaigns normally do. you have something much bigger on your hands at that point. i want to go to paul steinhauser. you cover elections. you've done this for a long time. have you ever seen the election plans shaken up this close to the end of a race before this.

what do you foresee happening? >> not in the last couple cycles since i've been covering it. remember, weather has already played a role until this cycle. let's go back to the conventions and how weather threw a wrench into the republican conventions. the first day being suspended because of bad weather. maybe not so much with election day but with conventions. ashleigh, you were talking about this a second ago. here's the problem. the weather could throw a wrench into the campaigns. take for instance virginia on monday. former president bill clinton campaigning on monday. now bark to possibly being in jeopardy if the storm gets too close. speaking of both presidential campaigns, they're monitoring the situation. they say they have contingency plans. both campaigns say listen, safety comes first, politics comes second. that is the clear message from both of these campaigns. one other thing, ashleigh. this will be interesting as well. if it is a tough storm, i think people will be very much scrutinizing the administration's response and that could be a factor.

could be a factor come november 6th. ashleigh? >> without question. not only that, the administration is going to have to be the administration and not in campaign mode necessarily if this happens. let me ask you one other big issue. that's early voting. early voting isn't always from your kitchen table and mailing it in. sometimes you have to go to the polling places as we saw the president do yesterday. but that could be terribly affected by inclement meant weather and dangerous weather too. >> it could. here's the flip side to that. in the three battle ground states or states that are in play that could be affected right along the east coast, virginia, new hampshire, and to a lesser degree pennsylvania, none of those states have early voting. none of those states have the early voting or absentee voting that some of the other states are currently doing, ashleigh. >> pennsylvania as well. >> pennsylvania is full election day. >> all right. then one last question for you and that is the contingency plans. are you hearing from any of the campaign staff about contingency plans? are they getting hit with a lot of bad news at the aim time and

starting to wonder about making the contingency plans. >> they have plans in place. they're monitoring the situation and if need be they would, of course, put their plans into effect. >> all right. paul steinhauser, thank you for that. we'll continue to watch this obviously throughout the weekend. another big poll is coming out as well this afternoon. it's a poll where it really matters, ohio. all eyes are going to be on that. it comes out at 4:00 eastern. we'll have it for you. we're back after this. with three strains of good bacteria. approved! [ female announcer ] live the regular life. phillips'.

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not a day goes by that you do not hear about this. political ads on the campaign trail, at the presidential debates, the number one issue for voters, the economy and jobs. >> we have to strengthen our economy here at home. you can't have 23 million people struggling to get a job. >> the median income in america has dropped by $4300 over the last four years. >> this is a president who's approach at creating jobs is another stimulus. how did the first one work out? >> you say that you're going to pay for it by closing loopholes and deductions without naming what those loopholes and

deductions are and then somehow you're also going to deal with the deficit that we've already got. the math simply doesn't work. well, in just a couple of hours the governor in this race is going to get a chance to lay out some of that math that the president was talking about. he'll do it in ames, iowa, where he's expected to deliver a major speech on the economy just 11 days out from the election. the economy, a corner stone of governor romney's campaign, and based on the latest numbers it just might be paying off too. here might be the proof. the newest poll on the economy from abc news and the washington post says that 50% of voters believe governor mitt romney would better handle the economy. a five point lead over the president. which is why governor romney's big economic speech today will be critical as he tries to capitalize off of some of this momentum. here's national political correspondent jim accoosta who s been busy traveling with

governor romney's campaign. >> reporter: mitt romney is on his way to iowa to give a speech. the gop nominee will lay out a choice for voters of basically boiling down to one question, do voters want real change or not? it's part of a theme romney debuted here in ohio yesterday. he has been traveling across the state talking to voters and vowing to bring what he called big change to washington at an event late last night with the rock music star meatloaf, romney pledged to work across the aisle with democrats to get the country back on track. here's what he had to say. >> i will do something that's not been done in washington a long time. i will reach across the aisle. there are good democrats that love the country and republicans that love this country. i'm going to work with both. i'm going to meet regularly with democrats and republicans, work together to solve our problems. >> defiance, ohio. i'd like to live there. our national political

correspondent. i'm joined by ali velshi because you're the guy that needs to answer this question for me. the claim that the governor makes about creating 12 million jobs in the first four years. we have heard it over and over again but he gets beaten up a lot on the evidence. that is a lot of jobs. where are you coming up with them? >> yes. >> what has he said to you? >> well, i've asked his people over and over again and they tell me it's possible and it's doable. here's the thing. projections for job creation irrespective of who's president is 8 million jobs. this is a 50% increase. president obama's people matched that claim. they said that's a lobar, would he can do it. they both think they can create 12 million jobs over five years. where's the math? ashleigh, it's happened three times. first one world war ii. two more recent times have been under president reagan and president clinton where 12 million jobs were created over a four-year period. gdp was above 4.3 in both cases.

gdp is 2%. if we're lucky it will be 3% next year. how do you get to these jobs? what you've got is presidential candidates going out and saying the future will be brighter under me but when you push them for details, we don't get the response and the satisfaction. most people have decided who they're voting for. those undecideds want answers. ashleigh, he's gotten this far without giving those kinds of specifics. i'm not sure why he'll change that today. >> the numbers sound awesome and we all want to be optimistic. >> yes. >> maybe rose colored glasses when you don't have the specifics but you have the faith. that leads to this other question. when he talks about cutting taxes and cutting the deficit all at the same time and the obama campaign says, cut $5 trillion, that's magic, people want to know how are you going to do it? what kind of tax loopholes. how will i suffer or where will

i suffer? >> these are the two biggest issues. one is i will get you more jobs and put more money in your pocket. the tax one is complicated. the argument, sometimes it's worked and sometimes it hasn't been proved right, if you tax people less and put more money in their pocket, the money they didn't use to pay the government in taxes they will use to do things that stimulate the economy and create jobs. that's not always true. sometimes that money goes into investments or buy things that were not produced in the united states. the argument is if you lower taxes people will spend more, the economy will grow faster and you'll have more money. everybody will be earning more money and they'll be paying a smaller tax to the government but the actual dollar value will be greater. it's going from a to b including 13 letters in the alphabet along the way. a little more specificity will be helpful. if either of these candidates does come oup with specificity,

they might get some undecided votes. what a lot of our experts tell us is why would you do it now? if you've avoided it and it's this tight, do something zblels it's working. think about it all through the weekend. those other numbers during the reagan and clinton years, we were wickedly consuming, consuming like mad. >> that's right. >> we've all learned how to do things on a dime. i want to ask you about that and how it might affect the models. >> i'll be with you all week next week. >> he'll be on the cnn election express. he'll have to work all the way through to election day. stay tuned. cnn is covering the mitt romney speech live at 1:00 eastern. we'll have it for you and you'll get maybe some of the answers that ali was talking about. meantime, president obama may be coming off that two-day cross-country campaign blitz but he's got no signs that he's slowing down or taking a rest from the all nighter he said he would have. the president is moving on to a media blitz. here's how it's going to go.

he's going to do ten interviews today that will air in seven battleground states. and today the big push seems to be towards the yuck ger voters who were so key to his campaign back in 2008. the president is going to be on mtv tonight in a special q. and a. that's called ask obama live.

there are crimes that stop you cold. two income households are with very little crime. a mother of three returned home to find two of her three children dead in a pool of blood not far from their bleeding nanny who police said was their killer. the children were two and six years old stabbed to death and left in the bathtub. the nanny lying nearby had self-inflicted knife wounds according to the police. all of this is the cnbc exec tiff who was flying home. only to be met in the airport by members of the nypd who had to deliver to him this horrifying

news. deborah feyerick is here. it defies any kind of summing up. this is so hard to understand. >> this is hard to understand. any parent who leaves their children with somebody else, a baby-sitter, caretaker, nanny, it is a could he loss sol leap of faith. it is hard to reconcile these happy smiling children. she took her middle daughter to swim lessons. when she returned home. she was quiet. she checked in the bathroom. it was a horrifying scene. her 6-year-old daughter lulu. they were bleeding. the nanny on tour. a kitchen knife nearby. the police say the nanny had slashed her throat. detectives cannot even question her until after she is off sedation and her condition is no

longer critical. neighbors calling 911 after hearing the mother's desperate cries for help. the father cnbc executive returning from san francisco had to be met at the airport by police so they could break the news as to what happened. cnbc did release a statement. the sadness that we all feel for kevin, and their family is without measure. the parents are clearly devoted to these three children. the mom had a blog called life with the little krim kids. the last posting about her son hours before the tragedy and she had written a couple of days previously. she said, i am very proud that the three kids absolutely love to play together and never seem to get bored at home. they're constantly thinking of fun things to do in the house. that house now the scene of a terrible crime and, you know, anybody who is a parent, we all have nannys.

they did more due diligence than most of us moms normally do. >> that's what's so fascinating. >> even the most thorough background check, it cannot predict whether somebody is going to snap. police don't know why she did but that's the assumption, that's what they're working on right now. >> just quickly. i don't know if you know this. the 3-year-old was with the mother coming back from the swim class. that scene was in the bathroom. do we know if that 3-year-old -- >> it's not clear. it's not just a tragedy for the two parents but it is for the little girl. all you see is the three children together. >> oh, deb, i'm so sorry to report it. thank you. appreciate it. back right after this.

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it has not changed. there's no electricity. people are living in shacks. growing up in kliptown makes you feel like you don't have control of your life. many children drop out of school because they don't have school uniforms and textbooks. i realized that the only way that kliptown could change was through education. i'm thulani, i'm helping the children so that they can change kliptown together. we help the children by paying for the school books, school uniforms. our main focus is our tutoring program that we run four days a

week. as young people who are born and raised here, we know the challenges of this community. we also do a number of activities. we've got to come together for fun. we also come together for academics. >> the program helped me pay for it. that's why i come back and help out here. a little can go a long way. >> what subjects do you like? math and science. and english. exactly. yeah. i did not go to university but being able to help them, i feel excited. >> i am going to be a lawyer. >> i am going to be a nurse. >> the work that you are doing here is bringing change. mom always got good nutrition to taste great.

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a trivia question for you. who won the tour de france from

1999 through 2005? the international cycling union has given us the answer. no one. that's because the body has decided that those titles won by lance armstrong but stripped away are not going to be reassigned to anybody else in that race. moreover, they are repeating they want the earnings, the winnings, the money that armstrong got for those wins back. they have not said yet how they intend to get that money back, whether it's by asking or suing. a man hired to conduct voter registration drives in virginia is in some big trouble. collin small who lives in pennsylvania is facing allegations that he just tossed in the trash eight completed voter registration forms. he's been charged by the local county prosecutor. now three virginia congressmen, bob ji scott, jerry connolly, jim moran who you see here, they

have asked the justice department to go a little further and get involved and look into this case. all three of the people i mentioned are democrats. virginia's republican attorney general says he's also expanding this probe. the state republican party hired small's employer, a firm called pinpoint to run the registration drive. cnn has not been able to contact this company. jim moran's name might ring a bell. we were talking yesterday about his son and there he is. you might recall that patrick moran resigned from his dad's campaign after he was caught on this videotape offering advice about how to commit voter fraud, and that's never good. police and prosecutors now in arlington county, virginia, have opened a criminal investigation into this, into the, quote, election offense allegations. patrick moran said he was only humoring a, quote, unstable person when he suggested forging the utility bills and bank

statements of inactive voters in order to co opt their ballots. and you know why. look, every single last vote is going to matter in that state of virginia. that race is an absolute dead heat. it is so toss up it's even a toss up what to call it. president obama and mitt romney are fighting to win an historically red state that obama flipped in '08 but can he keep that state blue or will mr. romney take it back. as cnn's john king reports, the answer is likely to lie in the suburbs in washington's backyard. >> you know, in ten straight presidential elections virginia had been reliably red and 2008 came along. you see it blue for president obama. let's pop it up. i drew in the northern virginia suburbs. everywhere else in the state john mccain and barack obama were even. the margin was 234,000 votes.

all of it came from here. >> reporter: urgency in a place once reliably red. >> this is from the republican party in virginia. >> mitt romney's path to the white house run through virginia and to win it he must win it within an hour's drive of washington. >> it's all about northern virginia. they've moved here from democratic areas that they have turned a solid red state into a purple state. >> reporter: recent polls show a dead heat but this republican pollster likes the trend line. >> if you look at the dozen polls in virginia taken before the first presidential debate on october 3rd, obama was ahead in all 12. if you look at the eight polls taken after the first presidential debate, romney was ahead in six out of the eight and it's now a dead even tie. >> reporter: to prove its 2008

win was no fluke, team obama knows they have to run up 200,000 votes or more f. it delivers it could ruin governor romney's night before the poles close in the midwest. >> the epicenter of this outcome will be in virginia. >> reporter: he knows romney's more moderate tone of late is aimed for the suburbs. he's betting it won't work. >> i think there's a trust factor. we remember the republican primaries. they don't suffer from amnesia. i think that's a tough sell for mitt romney. >> reporter: a lunchtime visit to harold and kathy's proves the president has deep suburban support. there are some cracks. bona phillips says she will vote republican for president as she did last time. >> from the get-go mr. obama promised so many things that i didn't believe he could do it and he has proven that he couldn't do it. >> reporter: robert stevens is an independent and obama 2008

supporter. >> it was something different for the country, something that hadn't happened before, electsing a black president. i got caught up in that a little bit. but i think he's a disappointment. >> reporter: you don't like what you got but you're not sold on the alternate? >> absolutely not. i don't know who i'm going to vote for. >> reporter: living in a battleground there's no escaping the ads or the get out the vote. >> i want to hang up the phone. i want to make my own independent decision. i don't want anybody shoving stuff down my throat. i thought i would have been there by now but i'm not but i will be by election day. >> reporter: tense final days in a place long known for its historic battle fields but a newcomer for the world of presidential battle grounds. the key is turnout. both campaigns knowing it's a tossup state say they know what this takes to win. here's why the republicans say they're confident. they have 1 million dor knocks, 5 million voter calls and they

say they have improved early voting numbers from the 2008 campaign when they lost in the state of virginia. the democrats say no way, the obama campaign will keep it blue. here's why they say their ground game is sphere i don't remember. 60 plus offices. latino registrations up 20%. they think most of those voters will go the president's way. the constituency of new voters should go his way. virginia is a tossup. the emphasis is on the ground game. (train horn) vo: wherever our trains go, the economy comes to life. norfolk southern. one line, infinite possibilities.

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and medications. do not use if you have prostate or breast cancer. serious side effects could include increased risk of prostate cancer; worsening prostate symptoms; decreased sperm count; ankle, feet, or body swelling; enlarged or painful breasts; problems breathing while sleeping; and blood clots in the legs. common side effects include skin redness or irritation where applied, increased red blood cell count, headache, diarrhea, vomiting, and increase in psa. see your doctor, and for a 30-day free trial, go to axiron.com. imagine if there had been a candidate included in the obama/romney debates to challenge our plutocracy, our government that is run by and for the benefit of monstrous corporations rather than in the interest of the people of this country. >> so that was rocky anderson

running for the president of the justice party. he's with the justice party. he wants to be the leader of this country. he is a one of the handful of candidates you may not have heard about in this election. there are some others. gary johnson, virgil goode, jill stein and gary johnson, the nominee for the libertarian party. he's a former republican who served two terms as governor of new mexico. he joins me live. thank you so much, governor, for taking the time to speak with us today. i want to lay out a bit of your platform first before we go any further. you're a fiscal conservative. you want to balance the budget by next year cutting military spending by 1/3, getting rid of the irs and on the platform legalizing marijuana. they're fascinating platforms. a lot of people would be interested in them. my big question for you, sir, is do you think that you could beat governor romney or president obama and become president of the united states?

>> well, i wouldn't be doing this if i didn't think there was the opportunity to win. most importantly, look, i think there needs to be a truth candidate in all of this. i would just like to correct you on wanting to cut the military by 1/3. i think we need to cut military spending by 43%. i think we need to cut all government by 43% or we'll find ourselves in a monetary collapse, the result of borrowing and printing money to the tune of 43 cents out of every dollar that we're spending. if we don't fix it, we're going to find ourselves without a country. so, big, big issues that both parties, i think, both of the old parties have their heads in the sand over. >> thank you for the correction. 1/3 to 1/2 is a big difference in terms of military spending. let me ask you this. i was perusing your website and looking for your positions and also for your polling. i was fascinated to see your list of polling in states like new mexico and arizona, colorado, new hampshire, and

montana. in new mexico you're polling 13%, arizona 9%, colorado 7%, 7% in new hampshire and 8% in montana, campaigning in nevada, 3%. those are significant percentages in states that are razor thin. so my question for you is are you this campaign's spoiler, meaning you could cost these states going to mitt romney? >> well, actually, in new mexico, in colorado, in nevada i take more votes away from obama. north carolina, michigan i take more votes away from romney. what's most important is that i am a voice representative of fiscal responsibility and social acceptance. the notion that most of us really do care about civil liberties, the notion that we really do understand that our military intersections have as a result the united states being

vilified by the rest of the world and that if we don't get our fiscal house in order we're going to collapse. it's just that simple. we've lived our entire lives hearing the notion that at some point there will be a day of reckoning when it comes to borrowing all the money that we spend beyond what it is that we collect. well, we're here. this day of reckoning is now so most important of all, i'm that voice that is actually speaking the truth here. >> so, governor johnson, when you say there are several states that lean heavily towards you in terms of being a spoiler for oba obama, i see in your platform that there are these varying lengths that you swing from. a fiscal conservative but legalizing marijuana is not a conservative platform. does that mean you're more of an equal opportunity spoiler and, thus, you won't have the effect on this election that say, a ross perot or ralph nader may have had meaning you will get your message out but you won't necessarily make or break this

for either of these candidates? >> well, we'll end up seeing in the final analysis, but like i say, i think the majority of americans are fiscally responsible. i think the majority of americans are socially accepting. democrats don't do so good on civil liberties. they're supposed to do good on civil liberties. republicans, they don't do good on dollars and cents but they're supposed to do good on dollars and cents. where are the majority of americans being represented by either of these two? i'll tell you from my viewpoint, what i'm representing is the fastest growing segment of american politics today, the whole libertarian movement, those that would describe themselves as libertarian that historically don't end up voting libertarian. we'll see what happens on election day, but most important, providing a voice here that isn't being heard right now. >> so, governor, the romney campaign is reporting that they went to quite a length to get

you off the ballot, particularly am' looking at pennsylvania. i do as much research as i can but i can't read every single issue that's come out with each party with regard to you. i'm wondering if you have been contacted by either the romney campaign or the obama campaign or have there been any efforts to get you off the ballot and to get you to step aside and walk away quietly? >> the republican party has taken an active role in about ten states to prevent us from getting on the ballot. you started talking about other third party candidates. i'm on the ballot in 49 states, one of those states being michigan where i'm officially a write in. i believe the green party is going to be on the ballot in 30 states. when you put this in perspective, it is obama romney and johnson will be on the ballot. oklahoma where the onus of shame as far as i'm concerned. i realize it's not the citizens of oklahoma but it's the

legislature there, legislatures that have passed the most restrictive ballot access laws in the country. why is anybody afraid of giving people a choice? and in this case, look, i'm not supposed to be a factor in this race. this is according to the republicans. for not being a factor, boy, they've sure spent a whole lot of time and resources trying to keep me off the ballot. like i say, in ten states. >> here you are on the tv talking to me on cnn. >> i have one last question. i'm running out of time but i have to get you on this one. i heard you say you wouldn't be running if you didn't have a chance to win. your website says 5.3% nationwide. other polls put you at 5 -- 3.5. if you don't win, do you have a preference? >> no. the opportunity remains that i continue to be a spokesperson here for a movement that ultimately will win the

presidency. so there is that out there. look, my name familiarity sits at about 30% nationwide so given the amount of money that we've spent and given the amount of votes that i get on election day, do an analysis. do the mathematics and i'll bet i'm a 50 to 1 money better spent on me when it comes to votes actually garnered. >> you are a good politician, sir. i'm going to write that down as neither. thank you, sir. thank you so much. >> neither. neither. >> thank you so much for talking to me. libertarian presidential candidate speaking to me live today, gary johnson. we're going to keep an eye out as well for your name on election night especially in some of these key swing states. back in a moment.

the flamboyant former prime minister of italy silvio berlusconi is officially guilty of tax fraud. 76 years old. he was sentenced today to four

years in prison. however, there is still a very good chance that he will never see the inside of a cell. let's go straight to ben who is live in rome. there's a good reason that he may never be locked up. what is it? >> well, ashleigh, first of all, you need to go look at his history. going back to the early 1990s mr. berlusconi has been in a series of legal cases where he got off either by appealing using the statute of limitations or when he was prime minister changing the laws, so he had immunity. the italian justice system has a two-tier appeals process, so it could be years before a final decision comes down from the court, and you have to keep in mind that the statute of limitations on this case, which began in july 2006 will expire

sometime next year, so if the appeals process is still going on some time next year and it probably will, he will be off, off the hook. >> wow. >> will never spend any time behind bars. >> ben, there's that, but a totally separate process has yet to even play out with regard to the former prime minister, and that was that case involving a -- how do i put this -- underaged hooker. that's also a criminal case, and can he see prison time on that one alone? >> well, that case, of course, is still going on and there was a hearing today. this is the case whereby he is accused of paying for sex with an underaged at the time 17-year-old moroccan exotic dancer, popularly known as ruby rubacori, ruby, the heart stealer. today, in fact, george clooney was supposed to serve as a defendant for mr. berlusconi in

that trial, but mr. clooney did not show up, and, yes, that case is still going on, and he could be convicted for that as well. as a result of today's verdict, however, he is banned from holding public office for the next three years. >> ben with an assignment that just keeps giving. thank you, sir. appreciate it. we're going to keep up with the appellate process in all those other developments on his criminal problems, and surely ben will be seeing us again on that. back in a moment. [ female announcer ] today, jason is here

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oh...there you go. wooohooo....hahaahahaha! i'm gonna stand up to her! no you're not. i know. you know ronny folks who save hundreds of dollars switching to geico sure are happy. how happy are they jimmy? happier than a witch in a broom factory. get happy. get geico. fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more. well, it is friday. happy friday. it's been a long week. by now you've been undoubtedly overloaded with so much campaign news that it's kind of hard to keep it straight. especially if you are kind of, you know, dipping into cable news here and there. so we thought you might appreciate a snap shot, just one big picture of where these candidates stand and exactly

what's at stake right now. take a look at those seven yellow states. if you forget everything else right now, just keep your eye on the yellow. they're the battleground states where the campaigns are going to focus mightily in this final stretch, and they are the states that could determine your next president. so the question is who has the edge there, and what did these two candidates need to do over this weekend and then over the next week to try to get the edge? our cnn contributor john avalon is at the election express bus right now, and you can see he is on the move. i'm coming to him live through the magic of tv that moves along right with him. hey, john avalon. just give me that snap shot. with those yellow states that we showed, those battleground states, who has the edge now, and what do they have to do in the next two days and then the next five after that? >> absolutely, ashleigh. i mean, it's day 11 from out in the election, and the battleground states could not be

tighter. >> i mean, really tied up. couldn't be closer. obama -- president obama's firewall seems to be ohio, the buckeye state. as you know, no republican had ever been elected to the white house without winning ohio. he is also trying to represerve leads in nevada. huge hispanic population. they've been able to keep an edge. it really becomes a mostly mathematical issue for mitt romney. other states to watch, wisconsin, paul ryan's home state. also very crucially the home state of the rnc chairman rex friedman. iowa, the hawkeye state. new hampshire. really this race could not be tighter right now. romney has had momentum the last couple of weeks, as you know. there's some sign that that is slowing up. both candidates hitting the campaign trail are racking up those frequent flyer miles trying to hit as many of them as possible over this crucial weekend. >> that's if hurricane sandy

doesn't change all of their plans, and how they campaign. you too, mister. i know you are sleeping on the bus too. i am glad they gave you a lot of space. my next question is how you travel versus the way you travel. it's like first and second class. it's like first and eighth class. here's why i know that. here's mr. obama's campaign plan for monday alone. he would not be able to do it if he were on the bus. he is going to be flying -- let's see -- orlando, florida, for president clinton rally. then youngstown, ohio, with the president, former president. then prince william county in virginia. he goes on throughout the week to do colorado springs, colorado, green bay, wisconsin, cincinnati, ohio, akron, ohio. you need a lot of jet fuel to pull this thing. two seconds for you. is that it? they're not going to the other states? >>